The Secretary General of NATO talked with the Collegium’s Members of both Houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH

 
Within a one-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a NATO Delegation, led by Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, met with the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the House of Peoples, Mr Sulejman Tihić, Ognjen Tadić and Dr. Dragan Čović, as well as with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Milorad Živković.

In open discussion, the hosts expressed gratitude to NATO for the support given to Bosnia and Herzegovina in its overall process of stabilization. Mr Rasmussen evaluated the participation of the Armed Forces of BiH in NATO-led peace missions highly.

The guest was introduced to BiH’s current position in fulfilling the remaining requirements for the accession of BiH to the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in the NATO Alliance. He expressed a special interest in the immovable military property issue, the state required for defence purposes, which should be registered as state property, for the needs of the Ministry of Defence of BiH. There are expectations, based on last year’s agreement by the key political players in BiH, that the immovable military property issue could be resolved in the course of 2013. Thus, as stated by
Mr Rasmussen, Bosnia and Herzegovina would show an ability to participate in Euro-Atlantic integration processes as a unique state.

Today, Mr Rasmussen also mentioned the positive experiences of Eastern European countries which, after joining the NATO Alliance, made strong progress in security and economic areas, which should also be in the interests of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whatever their different views on NATO integration. (end)